Re: Aechmea fasciata hardiness

I agree with Jason that A. fasciata is more tender,
and definitely subject to rotting in winter rains. 
This one always did quite well for me on a covered
porch, where it got cold, but never froze.  Definitely
much faster growing with warmer temperatures, or
indoors.  I wouldn't hazard planting this one outside
unprotected here.

Other Acehmeas which do make superb landscape plants
for shade include A. caudata, A. recurvata forms and
cultivars, A. gamosepala, A. leppardii, A.
bromelifolia, A. nudicaulis, and A. pineliana var
minuta, among others.  These will all easily take
several degrees of frost, dappled shade and infrequent
watering.  The Florida Council of Bromeliad Societies
web site www.fcbs.org has a great photo library of
most bromeliad species and cultivars if you want to
see what each look like.

For mounting bromeliads on palm trunks, with
Billbergias this will only work if you can keep the
humidity up.  Some of the silver leafed Tillandsia
species such as T. bergeri or T. stricta are more
amenable to this location.  All Billbergias prefer
more protected locations and humid air.  Another
method would be to plant in small pots or hanging
baskets with a soil/bark mix, and suspend from trees. 
I find placing a small plastic container  inside with
the soil at the bottom of the planter acts as a good
water resevoir to keep the basket moist.  The bright
red foliage and multiple branching clumps of
Neoregelia 'Fireball' is frequently used on trees/palm
trunks, and again, with humidity and regular watering,
can work quite well.

As to which causes more problems, it depends on the
plant.  Most often causes of failure here in fairly
wet SF Bay Area are the cold and wet in combination. 
Sometimes rain alone or cold alone can also kill
things, or not having the right soil ph.  Severe winds
are not usually a problem around here.  I generally
try to be careful about providing good drainage for
any plant used to dry winters, as a rule of thumb.  

--- Jason D <jjuania@yahoo.com> wrote:
> My experience with Aechmea fasciata is that it's a
> rather easy outdoor grower in the cool maritime
> climate of San Francisco, but I don't know if it
> will
> tolerate any frost. Once in a while one of mine has
> rotted from too much cold rain, but that's rare.
> Quite
> tough, really. I imagine in Spain it would do fine
> in
> shade with adequate water, for I've also seen it
> thrive in hotter climates such as Los Angeles's.
> -Jason Dewees
> San Francisco, California


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